COPENHAGEN - It is getting more and more difficult to find suitable dates for mahjong tournaments. That is why the European Mahjong Organisation (EMA) now has decided to have more tournaments taken place on the same date. In the weekend of Octber 16~17, in Uppsala, Sweden, the Open Swedish Championship will be held, whilst at the very same moment, but some 15,000 kilometers away, the Reunion Open 2009 takes place in the remote French department of Reunion (in the Indian Ocean).

One rule of EMA, the European Mahjong Association, was that no two MERS certified tournaments would take place on the same date. Given the fact that more and more tournaments  are being organized, it is getting harder and harder to find suitable dates.

Yet, according to EMA-president Robert Rijnders there is no real change of policy. "The most important is that never more than one 'MERS 2 points tournament' will be held on the same day." Mahjong tournaments with a MERS 2 certification mostly are national championships; MERS 1 tournaments are local tournaments.

In the event of the Swedish and the Reunion tournament, this was no problem. The Reunion Open is a local event with 1 MERS point; the Swedish competition is a national championship, laureated with 2 MERS points.

The EMA rule about MERS 2 tournaments also goes for riichi and MCR competitions. E.g., a French national MCR championship cannot take place on the same date as a Danish national riichi championship.

"If, in that case, the two organizers want to  hold on to their original dates, then it will be 'first come, first served'," says Robert Rijnders. "But we hope that this will never happen."

The problem will even increase now that more countries are joining the EMA. During the General Assembly of the association at Baden, Austria, last July, seven new member-countries were admitted: Belgium, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, Portugal and Spain. Besides, member countries now can organize three MERS tournaments each year instead of two (one MERS 2 tournament and two MERS 1 tournaments). 

One new tournament which will be added to the international mahjong calendar, is the Riichi UK Open, to be held at Guildford, Surrey, England. This will probably take place on June 16th, 2010.

In Germany, a second MCR tournament is being prepared, esp. since more qualification competitions are needed for the German delegation to the World Mahjong Championship. For this tournament, the organizers have requested the date of January 30th. The event will be held in Dortmund.